BY TSOGHIG MARGOSSIAN
Asbarez Staff
LA CRESCENTA–Two students from Chamlian Armenian School–eight grader Shant Krikorian and seventh grader Lara Injeyan both placed first in the Los Angeles County Science Fair Junior’s division.
Shant Krikorian won the first place in the Physics category in the LA County and second place in the California State Science Fair for his project entitled–"Finding Planks Constant Using the Photoelectric Effect." When light shines on metal–the metal emits electrons and creates a current. Krikorian measured the current and applied a negative force to it and calculated the results.
He researched for a number of weeks in order to come up with an original idea to for his project. He is interested in Physics and read numerous Physics textbooks as well as Physics magazines before he came across an article about Planks Constant–which sparked his interest. Krikorian won the Silicon Boulle Award–Mr. Physicist of the Year Award–he was a finalist in the state Geography Bee–and he won many awards for Art in the city of Glendale. Krikorian is a semi- finalist in the National Science Competition and he will be notified of the results in early November and he will attend Glendale High in the fall.
"So far we have had successes in the county and state levels–but this is something unprecedented because it is on a national level and we are very proud," said Vazken Madenlian–principal of the Chamlian school–who added "this success is due to the diligence of our teachers and parents–but the largest part of the credit goes to our students."
Lara Injeyan won first place in the Engineering category for her project entitled–"Crosstalk and Wavelength Division Multiplex Optical Fibers," in the Los Angeles County Science Fair Junior’s division–and second pace in the State competitions. She also qualified for the National Semi-Finals–which still has not been decided on.
Injeyan’s project calculated the amount of crosstalk that leaked from one beam to the other when it was being sent–and she also investigated the probability of increasing the band width of the beam to enable it to carry more information using Wavelength Division Mutiplexing.
The two students competed against private and public schools in this rigorous competition. Chamlian was also the only school in the California State Competitions that had two winners.